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Asteroid exploration creates unique ASU opportunity

Posted: Jul 20, 2011 | 8 min 10 sec

The newly announced OSIRIS-REx NASA mission to collect a sample of an asteroid and return it to Earth will include an instrument built at Arizona State University's School of Earth and Space Exploration. This Thermal Emission Spectrometer, similar to those used on the Mars rovers, will be the first such instrument for spaceflight to be built at ASU. In addition to a background report on asteroids and OSIRIS-REx, mission instrument scientist Phil Christensen will discuss the technology and challenges associated with the project.